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Monthly Archives: July 2017

It’s so hard to find time to write these days. I’ve managed to get a few of the thoughts out of my head this morning, so here are some summery updates on the people my life revolves around right now:

Jed is like a heat-seeking missile when he sneaks in to snuggle with us in bed in the morning. He looks like a tiny version of his father (except his dad doesn’t suck on his fingers while he’s sleeping.) He smells so good after a shower, like little boy and dreams and blankets and remnants of his dad’s “man soap.” With his new glasses and missing front teeth, he’s so cute that he’s hard for me to look at! And I never thought I’d care about sports until this guy came along with his immense love of flag football and his seemingly natural ability at baseball. I’m convinced that baseball is in his blood (his Grandpa Roy was signed as a pitcher before a shoulder injury took him out of the game.) When he walks up to the plate with the bat and I hear that metallic “thwing!” and the ball soars out over the field – way further than any 6-year-old should be able to hit it – something happens to my heart. When he’s fielding and catching and then chucking that ball all the way across the diamond, it just does something to me! I want to watch every game! He’s the boy-est boy I’ve ever met, but his little heart is so precious. We passed an accident on the highway and I said, “Uh-oh, we might be stuck in traffic.” His response? “Who cares about the twaffic wight now, Mom? We should be caring about dose people in dat car!” He teaches me lots of lessons like that.

Then there’s Adelaide, who I still see as a chubby little 3-year-old when I look at her, even though she’s now long and lanky and already nine. She loves to carry our dog around like a baby and I catch her snuggling him and singing to him on a regular basis. She’s constantly repeating herself and laughing at all of her own jokes (I have no idea where she gets that from.) She’s always trying to make people laugh – or yelling at them. She isn’t big on happy mediums. She either loves you so much she can’t contain herself or she despises you with a chilling fury and a stare that should turn you to stone. She is so much like me that it scares me sometimes. Heart on her sleeve, likes to draw and sing, emotional mess, gray-green eyes, suspicious nature, freakishly weird double joints, crazy hair, crying for no reason, anger issues…. She also surprises me with her deep thinking abilities because, honestly, you’d never know she was a deep thinker with her goofy faces, silly songs, and love of slapstick comedy. She said, “You know how you have to be still for a camera to focus before you can take a really good picture? Well, I was thinking about how we need to be still before we can focus on God. He can always see us, but we’re always running around and doing stuff and we can’t really see him unless we just BE STILL.” Wow. See what I mean?

Josie is exuberant in her love of life and all of the adventures she’s intent on having. She is scared of nothing, except crickets and aliens. She’s a bit of an adrenaline junky – she wants to jump out of an airplane, go rock climbing (check), zip-lining, swim with sharks, go cliff-diving (check), and go whitewater rafting (check.) She’s always looking for a hug, a puppy, or a baby to cuddle. She loves ALL OF THE PEOPLE, and the way she runs is so funny I can’t even explain it… she’s like a crazy person, and it’s the best thing ever. She’s almost perpetually in a good mood and I wish some of her optimism would transfer over to me. She’s very “Pollyanna-esque,” unless you happen to eat her leftover burrito or (heaven forbid) finish off the last of the chocolate milk and then may the Lord have mercy on your soul. Yes, once in a while her temper will rage, but it’s like a falling star – it burns out quickly and she’ll probably come looking for you because, as she says, “I just can’t be a grudge-holder. I keep on trying but honestly, I just really want to hug you.” She is convinced that God has great plans for her life and that she is going to change the world by running a home for needy children. I believe her completely, and seeing her passion for others often makes me realize that maybe I wasn’t put on Earth to change the world for good, but to raise children who will.

Sadie, 13 going on 20. She’s always hurting her foot/toe/ankle/leg – but not seriously injuring it. She gets the crutches out every now and then for good measure – and because she’s more dramatic than she likes to admit. She spends an inordinate amount of time choosing (and changing) clothes for any event and/or non-event (like going to the grocery store.) We’ve mutually decided to never shop for shoes together again because we can’t stand each other when we’re at the shoe store. Last time, she hid my shoe from me in a display and refused to give me its location. Do you know how hard it is to find a random shoe in a store full of shoes? The camouflage is amazing.) This was still better than the previous trip when we both left the mall in tears. She’s smart, quick-witted, a voracious reader, and she’s not afraid of hard work (once she gets started!) I’ve decided that God gave my notoriously slow (yet altogether wonderful) cousin Angela to me while I was growing up to prepare me for living with Sadie as my child (“Coming! I’m COMING! I’ll be there in a minute! Hold on! I’m almost ready!”) She’s growing up right before my eyes. It seems like one minute she was my little “long-legged-fracas” in a princess dress, climbing a tree, and now she’s almost grown up with braces on her teeth and a shoe size that’s bigger than mine. But I love how she still holds my hand, asks my opinion, hugs me goodnight, and prays with me. And every now and then, I still catch her in a princess dress or up a tree.